First
Appearance: Spider-Man: The Root
of All Annoyance#1 (December, 2009)

Powers/Abilities:
The Occultist can turn nearby materials into golems, transform
solid steel into butterflies, and teleport objects. However,
due to his inexperience, he can only maintain one spell at a time; his
previous spell will be broken as soon as he casts a second. He
also hasn't memorized all his spells, so he needs to carry a large
grimoire around with him. He wears what appear to be several
mystic talismans around his neck; whether they enhance his magical
abilities or are merely cosmetic remains unrevealed.

History: (Spider-Man: The Root
of All Annoyance#1 (fb) ) - The Occultist
learned magic one week prior to starting his criminal career,
apparently via a large magic tome.

(Spider-Man: The Root
of All Annoyance#1) - The Occultist attempted to
rob a bank with the aid of a golem assembled out of the bank's office
furniture. As the golem battled Spider-Man and the Black Cat (the
latter of whom insisted on calling him "Magic Guy"), the Occultist
headed for the bank's vault. Transforming the vault door into
butterflies, he was soon joined by Spider-Man and the Cat, as his golem
had vanished as soon as he cast another spell. Before they could
capture him, he tried to enchant a large stack of bills so he could
escape with it, but Spider-Man interrupted the spell and decked him.
The Black Cat handed him over to the police (earning a two
thousand dollar reward), who gagged him to prevent him from casting any
more spells. Soon, however, Spider-Man and the Black Cat broke
into the police station to free him, as his spell had affected
Spider-Man, causing the money to ceaseless follow him across the city.
Once he was ungagged, however, he transformed the money into a
golem and set it on the heroes. When it struck a mighty blow on
Spider-Man, the Occultist celebrated, thinking that he'd killed
Spider-Man - but soon realized that the golem was hollow and made out
of paper when Spider-man swung through it and kicked him in the face.

Comments:
Created by Chris Yost, Michael Ryan, and Danny Miki.

This story is said to take place "some time ago" - it
appears to have been around the time Spider-Man was living in his
Chelsea apartment and dating the Black Cat, so somewhere between 1983
and 1985, real-time.

Spider-Man: The Root of All Annoyance was originally
published online, via Marvel's Digital Comics Unlimited service; it was
later reprinted in physical form in The Many Loves of the Amazing
Spider-Man one-shot.